This is one of those things that there are so many different possibilities it is not easy to pin down all the time.

There could be a feeble attempt at a DOS attack on a hub or heck even your own computer targeted for that matter.

Not to mention all the spyware/maleware and such that over time plays a role, new viruses, maybe a provider going down and re-directing the traffic
until they get up and running again etc.

You wouldn't believe how many people go out and buy a new computer because their internet speed is too slow lol. (or maybe you do lol). When all
they had to do was disable a couple messaging systems like msn or yahoo for example. Or run a registry cleaner and a spyware/maleware removal
tool.

It should be mentioned that the majority of computer complaints now days is the internet slowed down what's wrong?

Also over the years I noticed when ever school starts internet speeds slow down for a while then go back up. Not sure if there is an actual
correlation to that but it does seem to happen every year. Also the first couple of months of school starting the weekends are terrible slow internet
speeds.

I have also been having problems, but I now know why. When I switched from Dial up I moved to AT&T DSL, 1.5. It was fine. After a month or so, I
changed to a package deal with them, and was led to believe I was upgrading the internet to "DSL EXTREME". After that I began losing a connection;
I couldn't even hold a connection for more than a few minutes . I called them, unhappy, and they sent a tech out to review my connections. This is
what he told me:

The tower for Extreme DSL covers the area of the tower, and only 8,000 FEET beyond. I was given the location of the tower, and I am definitely way
beyond that. The tech said I couldn't keep a connection because I don't really have exteme. I barely have anything at all.

How dare they sell me something as an improvment, knowing perfectly well I was out of range for this so-called "up-grade". "They don't really
know", he said.

Well, why don't they know?

Anyway, he suggested I bump back down to the 1.5 and I should be okay. Humph. He put some kind of filter outside, and said it should improve, and it
has. But I am still very annoyed with I consider to be nothing short of fraud. I still can't keep a connection when it is raining.

Oh, and there is this. They are in the process of building towers around town to offer the new "lightspeed". I will be within functioning range of
one of those towers, but get this. To get it, you have to buy another package which includes your Television.

I know I don't want ATT involved with my television in any shape, form or fashion. So I am shopping.

Since my new modem - and Shaw's switch to their new network in my area sometime this month - my High Speed Internet has gone from about 180 KB/s to 8
Mb/s. This is about an 6x improvement in speed - I’m not complaining).

Shaw has increased their speeds of all their internet options (www.shaw.ca...) - you see a lot of them say "Now
Faster". Perhaps it is the increased bandwidth of networks such as mine that have contributed to greater congestion and thus slower speeds for those
with older networks or smaller bandwidth.

Also, this is a bits versus bytes thing, but when you say 'Kb' you are referring to kilobits whereas 'KB' is a kilobyte (this is the same for
mega, giga, etc). Bits are much smaller than bytes - the standard conversion is 8 bits per byte. Your internet provider gives your speeds in bits so
that they seem larger. I now get about 1 MB/s (8Mb/s). If you’re really getting in excess of 5 MBps, you’re probably paying over $100 for your
connection unless you live in Japan or South Korea – where 100Mbps is the norm (boingboing.net...).

Mm. Let me add this and perhaps my rant will be over. I think another thing that has slowed down our computers is the incessant security updates of
microsoft. I have checked everything I can to stop these unsolicited updates, but to no avail. They were happening everyday. Then it went to twice
a day. Believe me, I have every setting possible set for no automatic updates. Then, I emailed microsoft (the site said they would respond in 24
hours) about three weeks ago, and of course I haven't heard from them.

But I did notice the updates have "slowed down" to maybe a couple a week since I wrote them. Somebody actually made a thread about this a few
months back.

I simply want to shop/select my security updates and not have my computer bombarded with a bunch of updates I don't need or want.

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